Saturday, December 20, 2008

"Changing The Subject" Means "Embarrassing Mike"

Mike Seebeck said libertarians "recognize that one legitimate use of government is to protect individuals from fraud."

Anarchists obviously deny that there are any "legitimate uses of government".

It's hardly a "straw man" to ask Mike if his statement was an attempt to define libertarians in a way that excludes anarchists.

If Mike had said "all birds can fly", he'd whine that it's a "straw man" to ask him about penguins because he hadn't mentioned them.

Mike is embarrassed because he accidentally said that it would be libertarian of his anarchist buddies in the BTP to invoke the state's protection against fraud. Mike doesn't want to talk about this slip, so he angrily accuses us of "straw men" and "changing the subject". Mike is allowed to introduce into the conversation his characterization of what libertarians believe, but nobody is allowed to ask Mike about that characterization.